Embracing the heat for some photos of lanterns!

I made an attempt to embrace the heat at 9 am this morning, to get a few photos of the colorful lanterns up in Kawagoe for the upcoming Million Lights Festival. The lanterns are already up more than a week, but I only had a chance to drive by them before today. 

The festival is on the last weekend of July, the 25th and 26th 2026, but they put the lanterns up about 2.5 to 3 weeks before that. This year I saw them on the 9th for the first time, but I think they were put up a few days before that. Regardless of when they went up, you can see them now until July 26th, 2026. 

The lanterns line the streets in and around the tourist area of Kawagoe, called the Kurazukuri district. But they also line Crea Mall, the shopping district that goes from Atre Kawagoe to just before Taisho Roman Street. Last year, I shared a photo of some lanterns in the tourist district, so this year a photo of the lanterns in the shopping district!